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What Are Auxiliary Verbs? (with Examples)

An auxiliary verb is used with a main verb to help express the main verb's tense, mood, or voice.

To Be: am, is, are, was, were, being, been, will be

To Have: has, have, had, having, will have

To Do: does, do, did, will do

Examples:

She was waiting for an hour.

She is waiting in the hall.

She will be waiting outside.

(In each of these examples, the auxiliary verb to be helps to form the progressive tense, which is the tense used for ongoing actions.)

She had drunk it before we arrived.

She has drunk it already.

She will have drunk it by then.

(In each of these examples, the auxiliary verb to have helps to form the perfect tense, which is the tense used for expressing an action's completion.)

She had been studying before the incident.

She has been studying.

She will have been studying for a month at that point.

(In each of these examples, the auxiliary verbs have and been help to form the perfect progressive tense, which is the tense used for expressing an ongoing action's completion.)